The ExChristian.Net blog exists for the express purpose of encouraging those who have decided to leave Christianity behind. This area contains articles sent in between January 2001 and February 2010. To view recent posts, click on the "Home" link.

You know he's right... it is paranoia! As a Christian I remember thinking with all sincerity that we were outnumbered and endangered. Since leaving the delusion behind, I've started to think of all the talk of the need for conversion and living a holy life to prove God's power, as a deceitful propoganda technique. Now, I guess I should give Christians the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps leaders are not touting intentional lies to fervor compliance, maybe they are just truly paranoid.

It's so true. I remember leaving the *Girl Scouts* of all things, because my mother read a book saying that the Girl Scouts were really controlled by a New Age cult. And Saturday morning cartoons created after 1955 were all designed to induct us into Satanic beliefs. Okay, my parents were a little extreme, but even when I went to a more moderate church, they still taught us that "the ways of the world" were out to get us.

Perhaps leaders are not touting intentional lies to fervor compliance, maybe they are just truly paranoid.

I think it is both. Jesus and the apostles claim Christians will be persecuted for their faith. So, if the bible is true, they must be under persecution. Right? As a result, they see persecution in everything, when in fact it is just that they don't get "their way" in society (whether it be beliefs or rules). To them, if a high school teacher teaches evolution, they are being "persecuted" because their story wasn't taught.

Under that definition, I could claim "I'm being persecuted!" every time my character in a video game incurred damage points.

A common method of establishing control and ensuring teamwork is to provide the target audience with a “common enemy”. This has been true for thousands of years and to this day, remains a staple method of controlling the masses. Both political and clergy leaders are experts in this area, each using various tools, including misinformation or outright lies (or more likely, a combination of both) to foster an environment of fear and paranoia. After all, it has never been a matter of what the truth really is but what people choose, or can be persuaded to believe and that is the operative word for the religious: belief.

When confronted with derision to their dogma, christians sometimes respond with the phrase “I believe” or “I strongly believe”. In fact, the “stronger” the belief of an individual, regardless of how ridiculous that belief might be, the more that individual is admired by the group and the more credence is accorded. “He has strong belief” we are told, as though that proves everything. I myself have been told by a Christian when confronted by my non-belief, that “some people believe!” like it meant something. Indeed to him, it did. So it would follow that some christians strongly believe that they are being persecuted. Such belief provides them with a unifying feeling, a sense of belonging. It gives them the mask of the underdog, and as we all know, the underdog is usually admired and even cheered for they are trying their best, their hardest, etc.

Spirual said: “it is just that they don't get "their way" in society (whether it be beliefs or rules)” and such has been my experience as well. When a Christian that wants something that they are not entitled to or do something that is a violation of societies rules and/or laws, gets balked, they will usually respond with, if not “god’s law is higher” then “why are you persecuting me/us?”. Such a response is solely designed to place them in the position of a victim and if there is a victim, there must be a victimizer (false dichotomy, yes I know).

We, the secularists, humanists, agnostics, atheists, etc, are the victimizers. We are the enemy that binds them together. We always have been and always will be. Just as any group of undesirables acquires offensive nom de guerres through outside volition, so do we. We are the immoral, the unethical, the heretical, the blasphemous, the unpatriotic, the filthy atheists, the satan worshippers, the Democrats :), etc. All of this labeling serves to group us together in a negative fashion that is almost impossible to fight. The minorities of our American culture have suffered this treatment for 200+ years and most are still fighting it so it is a demonstrably effective method. I say this without trying to set myself/ourselves up as the persecuted, as the underdogs. I myself will not be trod underfoot by the ignorant and the bigoted and I will not debase myself by claiming their methods as my own.

So let them wring their hands, run in circles and cry persecution. I don’t care.

I do love Bill Maher. It would be worth subscribing to cablevision just to get HBO.

Huey, excellent points. (Forgive my repetition but) when I lived in Utah, it was all about Mormon persecution. In Texas, it's all about the persecution of Jesus-loving people. Indeed the false perception of persecution is a necessary ingredient to keep the faith alive, I believe.

It's virtual mind rape when all the TV evangelists I see are doing their best to indoctrinate people with their own psychological delusions, - spreading like a virus that there are imaginary enemies in our own heads, and imaginary friends trying to save us, and that we are stuck in the middle bearing the burden of decision and guilt.

It's psychotic, and it should be 'persecuted'.Darn it, I want a real war on christianity.

Thanks to Bill Maher for putting it so well. Some christians believe they are persecuted here in the USA but it is the non-believers who are persecuted. I was once fired for telling a christian he's going to hell (snicker!) Another exchristian here once said that he was discriminated against at work for wearing a religious symbol around his neck (I don't recall the symbol, but it was something other than a christian symbol) yet everywhere at work were people wearing crosses around their necks! Then, of course, was the incident where George Bush senior stated that "atheists are not citizens" of the USA. I live in Dallas Texas, which is in the bible belt, and there are christian churches everywhere I go here. Some are right next to each other! Two different denominations! I wonder if one can hear the other damning the first one to hell...

That makes a lot of sense when it comes to this country, but what about all of those supposed Christians elsewhere in the world who are killed and/or tortured for being Christians? Is their situation exaggerated, perhaps?I wish it were...